bee52airborne Edgex Classic, Outbhack, Tanarg, 912
Not enough
Lots that are short, often dodging cow mines! Never know what to do with all that tarmac wwhen I get the chance - do another couple of landings for praccy?!!!
Trike Maintenance
Stuff to do with maintaining an Airborne Outback Edge X 582
Comments
Comments didn't appear for some reason. Fork tube can rotate slightly (1/8") in base tube (base tube is not bent and still in spec before I'm asked) - no hard landings from me - held by 2 AN bolts. Anyone dealt with this before?
Comments are on the photo - this one is about the "Album" - hard to see the difference when there is only one photo in the album though.
There is a thread about Airborne forks last year...not sure which forum. I think it was an issue with the welds...I could be wrong.
Hey Cburg & all Airborne owners-- the thread was in this awesome Airborne Group here at AllTrikes that @CrayonBox put together: http://alltrikes.com/elgg/groups/profile/7922/airborne-windsports-australia-microlights
Click on the above link, then click "Join Group" and you will be notified of any new activity in this group. Scroll down the group page to see what's already been posted (including the weld thread). Most of all be sure and share your insights on this group-- it doesn't work unless you put into it a little also ;) Bee52, to post an album like this into the Airborne group (to make it easy for others to find and organize in the future), first join the group, then instead of using the "Photos" menu at the top of every page, use the "Photos" menu on the right hand column that is available when you are on the Airborne Group page.
There is also an awesome Air Creation Owners Group here at AllTrikes (I started that group)-- I made it a closed group (visible to air creation owners only) so that we can be very open and honest and discuss things there-- it's got a lot of great tips tricks and hints. This group is not the same as the
Air Creation Pilots - Satis-fly... your Passion.! that was made by WeFly open to any and everyone interested in Air creation (not just owners).
Oh, CrayonBox also made a cool poll for Airborne owners to tabulate how many weld cracks owners found out there. Check your trike and vote on the poll (in the airborne group) here: http://alltrikes.com/elgg/polls/view/7963/there-has-been-a-weld-crack-problem-found-on-the-front-fork-carrier-tube-after-checking-yours-what-did-you-find-please-add-a-comment-if-crack-found-what-trike-model-year-and-hours
Finally, kudos to Airborne for making this information available- no one is perfect and doing the right thing and keeping your customers aware and knowledgeable is the right thing to do-- even on rare occurrences like this one. There are other companies that don't follow this philosophy and appear to hide behind a veil of "we're the best and we're perfect"-- that's not a recipe for a good pilot or a good company. Kudos to Airborne !!!
Thanks CrayonBox, Bee52 and everyone!!
Ok it's not a weld crack, this is elongation of the holes in the base tube through which the two bolts pass at 90 deg that secure the fork carrier tube to the base tube. Speaking with Airborne, this rotational moment which allows the front undercarriage to rotate lateral around the aircraft longitudinal axis can be causes by lots of rough handling over unimproved ground as well. While it isn't life threatening in the sense that it is only under load during taxiing or landing, I'm not too keen on the front wheel folding under at 50 knots if I plonk down a bit harder than normal!! So it is a replacement base tube that is required,with the associated bread and dripping diet for a fe weeks to pay for it ..... As my instructor did tell me, important to stand back and look at the trike before I fly it, helps to spot things like wonky wheels!
Makes those larger bolts sound appealing
Good catch Bee52-- I clicked on the photo itself (above) and found the rest of the conversation-- we are all commenting here at the "Album Level" the rest of the comments are at the "Photo Level"-- Like Ken said, since the album only has one photo, it's kinda hard to tell ...